It’s not surprising that Tim Shallenburger is stepping down as state chairman of the Kansas Republican Party — given embarrassing GOP landslide losses in the governor and attorney general races and the defeat of incumbent Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Topeka. But these losses aren’t Shallenburger’s fault. He tried hard to reach out to disaffected GOP moderates — and was harshly criticized for it by some of his fellow conservatives.
“There’s a lot of things I wish would have happened differently — the bad press about the party split and people leaving the party,” he told Associated Press. But if Shallenburger — a former House speaker, state treasurer and GOP gubernatorial nominee — can’t mend the party, can anyone?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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17 Comments
The party won’t be mended until the extremes on each side quit behaving like children with their ‘my way or the highway’ antics.
Uh, when did Shallenburger reach out for moderates?
Mr. Shallenburger of Baxter Springs, Kansas, was a good person trying to do a good job for Kansas. But he was saddled with the wild-eyed religious conservatives trying to grab control of the Kansas Republican party. Because of them, a lot of moderate Republicans like me are now riding the fence.
Pmom…he and his committee reached out to many, many moderate Republicans..through phone calls, emails, and letters. Just because you didn’t see any of them doesn’t mean it wasn’t being done.
“But he was saddled with the wild-eyed religious conservatives trying to grab control of the Kansas Republican party.”
Uh, wasnt he one of the “wild-eyed religious conservatives” in the past?
Why is he running away from the very people he courted? Did he have NO input on barnett’s running mate selection?
Seems like he didnt try very hard to pull the party away from the kansas taliban in any meaningful way. If he did reach out to moderates, he was damned quiet about it.
And that “quiet” reach did nothing to change the perception of the majority of voters that a vote for a republican was, in many cases, a vote for theocracy.
Oh you guys are so full of it! Shallenburger, the rabidly pro-life, pro-creationism/religious right, pro-TABOR- was everything the far right stood for. He even called for the moderates to leave the party.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/may/31/sebelius_may_tap_2nd_gop_convert/?politics
Where is my damn troll when I need him! This would be a good time to say bad things about Phillip Brownlee LOL (jk Phil).
Maybe Kelly Arnold can lead the state GOP! After all, he is the dual chair/director of the local Republicans. What a joke!! Why would you elect someone chair after their tenure as party director saw the defeat of two incumbent state house members and a county commissioner. Mr. Arnold is no leader!
The Republican Party is near irrelevant. Republicans contributors now support individuals, and those individuals have to create their own grassroots organization. We are at a strategic disadvantage to the opposing party because it costs more to accomplish the sme thing as a republican, conservative or moderate. Good luck to whomever desires to joust this windmill.
Both political parties are dead to me. Lou Dobbs has it right. We should all be Americans.
He should do what other Republicans are doing in the state. Become a Democrat!
I beg to differ with the term “landslide victories” on the Governor and AG races. The winning candidates defeated their opponents in a decided way, but I don’t think the margins amounted to a landslide.
The GOP can come back if they drop the religious wingnuts that have hijacked just about everything. This crazy bastard who owns WWW is another wingnut. The only thing not gay about Terry Fox and Thomas Etheredge is that they haven’t swapped spit yet. People are so easily hoodwinked. Look at ‘their’ religious leader, Pres. Bush, he basically murdered our troops in the name of religious ego.
“Both political parties are dead to me. Lou Dobbs has it right. We should all be Americans.”Kumbaya, Taylor, kumbaya.
No, not at the present time.
It doesnt matter since he’ll be replaced by another GOP money grubber who will cater to the rich and shit on the rest of us.
Mark Gietzen is probably salivating at the chance to try to take Shallenburger’s seat. I hope that happens, then the Democrats can finally have a majority in the state house.